Home appliance, network connection system for home appliance and network connection method of home appliance

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method of connection of home appliance to a network, a network-connection system for home appliances, and an apparatus related to a network-connection setting for home appliances. The network connection method of home appliance includes an operation in which a terminal device receives an input of an authentication key of an access point (AP) apparatus and the terminal device or the AP apparatus verifies and authenticates the authentication key; an operation in which a home appliance is set to be in a state of communicating with the terminal device; an operation in which the home appliance is interconnected to the terminal device and the terminal device transmits an identification number and the certificated authentication key of the AP apparatus to the home appliance; and an operation in which the home appliance is connected to the AP apparatus based on the identification number and the authentication key of the AP apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365 toInternational Patent Application No. PCT/KR2015/000847 filed Jan. 27,2015, entitled “HOME APPLIANCE, NETWORK CONNECTION SYSTEM FOR HOMEAPPLIANCE AND NETWORK CONNECTION METHOD OF HOME APPLIANCE”, and, throughInternational Patent Application No. PCT/KR2015/000847, to Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2014-0013455 filed Feb. 6, 2014, each of which areincorporated herein by reference into the present disclosure as if fullyset forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method of connectionof home appliance to a network, a network-connection system for homeappliances, and an apparatus related to a network-connection setting forhome appliances.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a home appliance represents an electrical appliance used inthe household. Home appliances may include a refrigerator, a washingmachine, a television, a radio, an audio, a cleaner, an air conditioner,an oven, a Smart TV, a digital camera, a home computer or a laptop, andvarious types of electronic appliances used in the house hold.

In recent, a home appliance may include various processors, such asmicro control unit (MCU). The MCU represents a control device, whichincludes a central processing unit (CPU), storage such as random accessmemory (RAM) or read only memory (ROM) and various modules, such asvarious ports implemented as a single chip. Home appliances may providea variety of information necessary for a user and may perform anoperation corresponding to the instruction received from a user by usingthe processor. Therefore, home appliances may refer to as smart deviceor smart appliance. The smart device or smart appliance represents adevice or an appliance in which functions of thereof are not limited,and thus substantial portion of function is changeable and expandablethrough various application programs.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide anetwork connection system for home appliance and a method of connectionof home appliance to a network configured to allow a user to easily seta network connection of home appliance without an error.

Technical Solution

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a networkconnection method of home appliance includes an operation in which aterminal device receives an input of an authentication key of an accesspoint (AP) apparatus and the terminal device or the AP apparatusverifies and authenticates the authentication key; an operation in whicha home appliance is set to be in a state of communicating with theterminal device; an operation in which the home appliance isinterconnected to the terminal device and the terminal device transmitsan identification number and the certificated authentication key of theAP apparatus to the home appliance; and an operation in which the homeappliance is connected to the AP apparatus based on the identificationnumber and the authentication key of the AP apparatus.

The network connection method of home appliance may further include anoperation in which the terminal device displays an operation method ofsetting the home appliance to be in a state of communicating with theterminal device

The network connection method of home appliance may further include anoperation in which the terminal device searches a home appliance, whichis set to be in a state of communicating with the terminal device.

The home appliance and the terminal device may be communicated with eachother by using Wi-Fi direct.

The network connection method may further include an operation in whichthe AP apparatus is connected to the terminal device.

The network connection method may further include an operation in whichthe home appliance is connected to the AP apparatus and then the homeappliance accesses to a server device via the AP apparatus.

The network connection method may further include an operation in which,when the home appliance accesses to the server device, the server deviceregisters the home appliance to a user account related to the terminaldevice.

The network connection method may further include an operation in whichthe terminal device verifies the authentication key by determiningwhether the authentication key is identical to an authentication key ofthe AP apparatus stored in the terminal device.

The terminal device may repeatedly receive an input of theauthentication key to verify the authentication key until theauthentication key is authenticated.

The network connection method may further include an operation in whichthe terminal device or the home appliance transmits the userauthentication information to a server device, and in this case theserver device may perform a user authentication based on the userauthentication information.

The terminal device may include at least one of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a tablet PC, a SmartTV, a digital cameras, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a remotecontroller, and a portable gaming device.

The home appliance may include at least one of a refrigerator, a washingmachine, a television, a radio, an audio, a cleaner, an air conditioner,a home computer, an oven, a Smart TV, a digital camera, or a laptop.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a homeappliance includes a communication unit connected to a network andconfigured to receive access point (AP) apparatus access information,and a processor configured to try a connection to an AP apparatus byusing the AP apparatus access information, and configured to control toconnect to a server device via the AP apparatus by using stored InternetProtocol (IP) address when connected to the AP apparatus

The processor may perform a user authentication procedure by using userauthentication information received from the communication unit whenaccessing to the server device.

The communication unit may receive the access point (AP) apparatusaccess information from the terminal device, wherein the access point(AP) apparatus access information may include at least one of anidentification number of an AP apparatus and an authentication key ofthe AP apparatus.

The communication unit may further receive server device accessinformation to access to the server device.

The home appliance may further include a setting unit configured to setthe home appliance to be in a state of communicating with a terminaldevice.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a networkconnection system of home appliance includes an access point (AP)apparatus connected to an external network, a terminal device configuredto receive an input of an authentication key of the AP apparatus, and atleast one home appliance interconnected to the first terminal device bybeing set to be in a state of communicating with the terminal device,configured to receive an identification number and the authenticationnumber of the AP apparatus, and connected to the AP apparatus based onthe identification number and the authentication number, wherein theterminal device or the AP apparatus may authenticate the authenticationkey by verifying the authentication number.

The terminal device may display an operation method of setting the homeappliance to be in a state of communicating with the terminal device.

The terminal device may search a home appliance, which is set to be in astate of communicating with the terminal device

The home appliance and the terminal device may be communicated with eachother by using Wi-Fi direct.

The AP apparatus may be connected to the terminal device.

The network connection system of home appliance may further include aserver device to which the home appliance is accessed via the APapparatus after connected to the AP apparatus.

The server device may register the home appliance to a user accountrelated to the terminal device when the home appliance accesses to theserver device.

The terminal device or the home appliance may transmit userauthentication information to the server device, and the server devicemay perform a user authentication based on the user authenticationinformation.

The terminal device may verify the authentication key by determiningwhether the authentication key is identical to an authentication key ofthe AP apparatus stored in the terminal device.

The terminal device may repeatedly receive an input of theauthentication key to verify the authentication key until theauthentication key is authenticated.

The terminal device may include at least one of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a tablet PC, a SmartTV, a digital cameras, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a remotecontroller, and a portable gaming device.

The home appliance may include at least one of a refrigerator, a washingmachine, a television, a radio, an audio, a cleaner, an air conditioner,a home computer, an oven, a Smart TV, a digital camera, or a laptop.

Advantageous Effects

As is apparent from the above description, according to the proposednetwork connection system of home appliance and a network connectionmethod of home appliance, a user may easily set a network connection ofhome appliance so that user convenience may be improved.

According to the system and method, an error, which may be generated ina process of accessing to an access point (AP) apparatus of homeappliance, may be prevented so that home appliance may be reliablyaccessed to the AP apparatus.

According to the system and method, it may be verified and preventedthat a home appliance is connected to the AP apparatus by a malicioususer, and thus safety of using home appliance may be improved.

A user may more easily set a network connection of home appliance, inwhich a network connection is set by other user

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects of the invention will become apparent andmore readily appreciated from the following description of theembodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a network connection system of home appliance inaccordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process of displaying amethod of setting home appliance on an external terminal deviceappliance;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device while setting home appliance;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating selecting ranking of a wireless accesspoint (AP) apparatus;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device while setting a home appliance;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process of displaying a method ofsetting home appliance on an external terminal device in accordance withanother embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device while setting home appliance;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a process of registering a homeappliance, which is to communicate with a first terminal device, at thefirst terminal device in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a process of connecting a homeappliance to a AP apparatus;

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on aterminal device while setting home appliance;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a network connection method of homeappliance by using a second terminal device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device during a process of setting a networkconnection of home appliance by using a second terminal device;

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating a process of setting a networkconnection of a plurality of home appliances in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIGS. 16 to 19 are views illustrating an exemplary screen displayed onan external terminal device during a process of setting a networkconnection of a plurality of home appliances.

BEST MODE

Hereinafter a network connection system of home appliance will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a networkconnection system of home appliance in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a network connectionsystem of home appliance may include at least one first terminal 10, aserver device 20, an access point (AP) apparatus 30, and at least onehome appliance 40 and 40 a. The first terminal 10, the server device 20and the AP apparatus 30 may transmit/receive data through awired/wireless communication network. For example, the sever device 20and the AP apparatus 30 may transmit/receive data to each other througha wired communication network. The first terminal 10 and the AP 30 maytransmit/receive data to each other through a wireless communicationnetwork. The at least one home appliance 40 and 40 a, and the firstterminal device 10 or the AP 30 may transmit/receive data to each otherthrough a wireless communication network.

A wired communication network represents a communication network capableof transmitting/receiving an electrical signal by using a communicationmedium, such as a wire. Various devices, such as loaded cable, coaxialcable or fiber optic cable, may be used as a communication medium of thewired communication network. A wireless communication network representsa communication network capable of transmitting/receiving an electricalsignal without a medium, such as a wire.

A wireless communication network may be a network built by variouswireless communication systems. The wireless communication network mayinclude both of a local area communication network and atelecommunication network. The wireless communication network maytransmit data by using various communication systems, such asBluetooth™, Zigbee™, WirelessHART, near field communication (NFC),Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, GSM/3GPP-based communication system i.e., GSM,HSDPA, LTE Advanced, 3GPP2-based communication system, i.e., CDMA, orWiMAX-based communication system, i.e., WiBro.

The first terminal device 10 may receive an input of an authenticationkey from a user. The authentication key inputted into the first terminaldevice 10 may be serial numbers constituting at least one of characters,numbers, and various symbols. The serial number may be a password. Inaddition, the authentication key may be electronic information, such asa public certificate. As needed, the first terminal device 10 may verifyand authenticate inputted authentication key. For example, the firstterminal device 10 may authenticate that the inputted authentication keyis correct by determining whether the inputted authentication key isidentical to previously inputted authentication key, or whether theinputted authentication key is identical to a predetermined value. Asneeded, the first terminal device 10 may repeatedly receive anauthentication key from a user until authenticating an authenticationkey is completed.

The first terminal device 10 may include at least one of a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a tabletPC, a Smart TV, a digital camera, a personal digital assistant (PDA), aremote controller, and a portable gaming device. Other than the above,the first terminal device 10 may include various devices capable oftransmitting/receiving data to/from other device in the outside by usinga certain wired/wireless communication network. In the first terminaldevice 10, a communication module may be installed for thecommunication. As for a wireless communication, the communication modulemay include an antenna, and a wireless communication chip. As for awired communication, the communication module may include a wiredcommunication cable, and a LAN card to which a wired communication cableis mounted. In addition, the first terminal device 10 may furtherinclude a processor to process data, which is transmitted/receivedthrough a communication module. The processor may be a processing devicein which an arithmetic logic operator, a register, a program counter, aninstruction decoder and a control circuit are installed on a singlesilicon chip. A certain processor may be realized by at least onesemiconductor chip disposed on a certain printed circuit board embeddedin a housing of the first terminal device 10. The first terminal device10 may be provided with a display unit to display an image. The displayunit may be realized by a display device manufactured by using liquidcrystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) or organic lightemitting diode (OLED). According to the control of the processor, thedisplay unit may display a method of setting connection between the homeappliance 40 and 40 a and the AP apparatus 30 by using characters,images, or videos and the like.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, the networkconnection system of home appliance may further include a secondterminal device 11. The second terminal device 11 may be the same typeof the first terminal device 10 or may be the different type of thefirst terminal device 10. For example, the first terminal device 10 maybe a smart phone and the second terminal device 11 may be a tablet PC. Auser of the first terminal device 10 and a user of the second terminaldevice 11 may be the same or may be different.

The server device 20 may receive data from at least one of the firstterminal device 10 and the second terminal device 11, may performoperation, determination, and process based on the received data, andmay transmit a result of performing, such as operation, determination,and process, to at least one of the first terminal device 10 and thesecond terminal device 11. The server device 20 may be realized by atleast one computing device. In other words, the server device 20 may berealized by a plurality of computing devices. Each of the plurality ofcomputing devices may perform the same functions or different functionsfrom each other.

The AP apparatus 30 represents an apparatus configured to allow variouswireless devices to be connected to a wired device. The AP apparatus 30may be provided with a slot connected to a wired communication cable,and may transmit/receive data to/from the server device 20 via the wiredcommunication cable. The AP apparatus 30 may include a router connectedto the wired communication network. In addition, the AP apparatus 30 maybe connected to at least one the first terminal device 10 and the secondterminal device 11, or the home appliance 40 and 40 a via a wirelesscommunication network. The AP apparatus 30 may include a wirelesscommunication module for a wireless communication network. The wirelesscommunication module of the AP apparatus 30 may include an antenna and awireless communication chip. The AP apparatus 30 may perform acommunication by using various communication standards, such as IEEE802.11 standard. Particularly, the AP apparatus 30 may performcommunication by using various communication technologies, such as WiFi,near field communication (NFC), or Bluetooth™. In order to secure thewireless communication, the AP apparatus 30 may encrypt a packet byusing a variety of encryption methods, and may transmit the encryptedpackets to the outside.

The AP apparatus 30 may receive an authentication key from an externalterminal device, and when the inputted authentication key is correct theAP apparatus 30 may allow the external terminal device to be connectedthe AP apparatus 30. For example, the AP apparatus 30 may receive anauthentication key from the home appliance 40 and 40 a, may determinewhether the received authentication key is identical to pre-storedauthentication key, and may allow the home appliance 40 and 40 a to beconnected to the AP apparatus 30 when the received authentication key isidentical to pre-stored authentication key. When the AP apparatus 30allows the connection, the home appliance 40 and 40 a may be connectedto the AP apparatus 30, and may be connected to an external networkthrough the AP apparatus 30.

The authentication key may be serial numbers constituting at least oneof characters, numbers, and various symbols. The serial number may be apassword. In addition, an authentication key may be electronicinformation, such as a public certificate.

The home appliance 40 and 40 a may include a communication module and aprocessor. The communication module is configured to communicate with atleast one of the first terminal device 10, the second terminal device11, and the AP apparatus 30, and the processor is configured to controlthe overall operation of the home appliance 40 and 40 a. Thecommunication module may be a wired communication module or a wirelesscommunication module. As for a wired communication, the communicationmodule may include a wired communication cable, and a LAN card in whicha wired communication cable is mounted. As for a wireless communication,the communication module may include an antenna, and a wirelesscommunication chip. The communication module may communicate with atleast one of the first terminal device 10, the second terminal device11, and the AP apparatus 30 by using various communication technologies,such as WiFi, near field communication (NFC), or Bluetooth™. Forexample, the home appliance 40 and 40 a may perform a data communicationwith the first terminal 10 or the second terminal 11 by using WiFidirect. The processor may be realized by various processing devices,such as micro control unit (MCU). The processor may a controlcommunication module, and may process data received through thecommunication module. The processor may generate a control commandconfigured to try to access to the AP apparatus 30 by using anidentification number and an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30received from the first terminal device 10 via the communication module.

As needed, the home appliance 40 and 40 a may further include a displayunit to display a variety of information and an input unit to receivevarious instructions from a user. The display unit may be a displaydevice realized by liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode(LED) or organic light emitting diode (OLED). The input unit may bedirectly installed in the home appliance 40 and 40 a, or may beinstalled on an external device connected to the home appliance. Theexternal device connected to the home appliance may include a remotecontrol device. In accordance with one embodiment, the input unit mayreceive an instruction of entering the home appliance to an access pointconnection mode so that at least one home appliance may be connected toan AP apparatus. In accordance with embodiments, the home appliance 40and 40 a may include a touch screen unit. The touch screen unit mayreceive an input of an instruction from a user according to a touchoperation of a user while displaying an image. Therefore, the touchscreen unit may provide a function of display unit and a function ofinput unit at the same time.

The home appliance 40 and 40 a may include a refrigerator, a washingmachine, a television, a radio, an audio, a cleaner, an air conditioner,an oven, a digital camera, a Smart TV, and a home computer or varioustypes of electronic appliances other than a laptop.

Hereinafter a method of setting a network connection of home applianceby using the first terminal device will be described with reference toFIGS. 2 to 12.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process of displaying amethod of setting home appliance on an external terminal deviceappliance and FIGS. 3 and 4 are views illustrating an exemplary screendisplayed on an external terminal device while setting home appliance.FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the server 20 including three of serverdevice 21 to 23. This is for convenience of description, but the severdevice 20 may be one, two or more than four. This may be determinedaccording to the random choice of a system designer. A first serverdevice 21 of FIG. 2 may be an application storage server in which atleast one application (referred to as APP on the drawings) is stored.The application may be programmed to implement a network connectionmethod. The first server 21 may store an application or updated file ofapplication, may transmit the application or the updated file ofapplication to the first terminal device 10 and the second terminaldevice 11 according to a request of the first terminal device 10. Thesecond sever device 22 may be an authority process server for processinga user's network setting authority. A third server device 23 may be aserver device managed by a service provider providing a home networkservice, such as a remote control of home appliance, and may manage anaccount of a user subscribed to the service. The user account mayinclude user information and a list of home appliance, which isregistered by a user. Even when a user is not in the house, the user mayremotely control the home appliances registered in the user account byconnecting to the third server device 23 via a wired/wirelesscommunication network of out of the house.

Referring to FIG. 2, the first terminal device 10 may receive anapplication from the first server device 21 (s 100) so that the homeappliance 40 may be connected to the AP 30 to be connected to a network.When the application is already installed in the first terminal device10, s 100 may be omitted. When the application installed in the firstterminal device 10 is needed to be updated, an application update filemay be transmitted from the first server device 21 to the first terminaldevice 10. The first terminal device 10 may install the applicationreceived from the first server device 21 or may install the applicationupdate file received from the first server device 21, and then mayexecute the installed application (s 101).

When the application is executed, the first terminal device 10 may beconnected to the third server device 23 via a network. The firstterminal device 10 may transmit user authentication information to thethird server device 23 to access to the third server device 23 by usinga pre-registered user account (s 102). If a user account registered inthe third server device 23 is absent, the third server device 23 mayperform registration process to register a user account. Hereinafter forconvenience of description, it is assumed that a pre-registered useraccount is already existed. User authentication information may includeat least one of user identification number (ID) and password forauthentication. The ID and password for authentication may be formed byat least one of symbol, character and number. The ID may include avariety type of indicators capable of identifying a person, such as auser's e-mail address, register number and mobile phone number. Asneeded, the first terminal device 10 may display an input window toreceive user identification number and a password for authentication foruser authentication. The first terminal device 10 may store useridentification number and a password for authentication in advance. Theuser authentication information may be encrypted for security beforetransmitted to the third server device 23.

The third server device 23 may receive authentication information, andmay perform user authentication based on the received authenticationinformation. In this case, the third server device 23 may analyzeencrypted authentication information and may perform user authenticationbased on the analyzed authentication information. If user authenticationsucceeds, the third server device 23 may access to the registered useraccount and may transmit a first access token related to a networksetting authority of the home appliance 40. If user authentication isfailed, the third server device 23 may transmit information related tofailure of user authentication to the first terminal device 10. Thefirst terminal device 10 may output user authentication failure messageon a screen, i.e., a display unit based on the information related tofailure of user authentication. As needed, the first terminal device 10may output user authentication failure message in a sound.

When the first terminal device 10 receives the first access token, thefirst terminal device 10 may request an authority of access to the homeappliance 40 by transmitting the first access token to the second serverdevice 22 (s 104). For the integrity of the first access token, thesecond server device 22 may transmit the received the first access tokento the third server device 23 (s 105), and the third sever device 23 maytransmit information for the integrity of the first access token, suchas a result of user authentication, to the second server device 22. Whenthe integrity of the first access token is proved, the second serverdevice 22 may determine to provide network connection setting service ofhome appliance (s 107), and may transmit a result of determination tothe first terminal device 10 (s 108).

The first terminal device 10 may display a certain screen I, asillustrated in FIG. 3, while performing the above-mentioned process. Animage and a video, which is to indicate that a variety of processesrelated to an authentication are performed, may be displayed on aportion of the screen I. In accordance with one embodiment, the firstterminal device 10 may inform that the authentication process isperformed to a user by outputting a sound.

When receiving a result of determination from the second server device22, the first terminal device 10 may determine the AP apparatus 30 towhich the home appliance is connected. In this case, the first terminaldevice 10 may display an input window a, as illustrated in FIG. 4, toreceive the determination of the AP apparatus 30 and an authenticationkey of the AP apparatus 30. In the input window a, a variety ofinformation to display the AP apparatus 30, such as security setting aland signal intensity a4, may be displayed. In addition, a button a3 toselect other AP apparatus, an authentication key input portion a5 toreceive an authentication key of AP apparatus, a OK button a6 and acancel button a7, both of which are to receive an instruction forperforming function of following step, such as transmitting anauthentication key, may be displayed in the input window a.

If a plurality of AP apparatuses 30 is present, the first terminaldevice 10 may determine at least one AP apparatus 30 among the pluralityof AP apparatuses 30 based on AP connection ranking. The AP apparatusconnection ranking may be determined based on a variety of standards.For example, the AP apparatus connection ranking may be generated basedon at least one of a connection time between the AP apparatus 30 and thefirst terminal device 10, a connection time between the AP apparatus 30and at least one of the home appliance 40 and 40 a, access time, whichis a time point when the first terminal device 10 or at least one of thehome appliance 40 and 40 a is connected to the AP apparatus 30, radiowave strength of the AP apparatus 30, and a result of selecting APapparatus by a user.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating selecting ranking of access point (AP)apparatus. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the AP apparatus 30may be selected in the following order: a AP apparatus to which thefirst terminal device 10 or at least one home appliance 40 and 40 a iscurrently connected, a AP apparatus to which the first terminal device10 or at least one home appliance 40 and 40 a is most recentlyconnected, a AP apparatus having the highest signal strength, and a APapparatus selected by a user. In other words, the first terminal device10 may confirm that the AP apparatus 30 currently connected thereto ispresent, and may select the AP apparatus 30 currently connected thereto.When the AP apparatus 30 currently connected to the first terminaldevice 10 is absent, the first terminal device 10 may confirm that theAP apparatus 30 most recently connected thereto is present by readingaccess records, and when the AP apparatus 30 most recently connectedthereto is present, the first terminal device 10 may access to the APapparatus 30 most recently connected to the first terminal device 10.When the AP apparatus 30 most recently connected to the first terminaldevice 10 is absent, the first terminal device 10 may select an APapparatus having the highest signal strength among a plurality of APapparatuses 30. When the AP apparatus 30 is not determined by using theabove-mentioned method, the first terminal device 10 may receive aninput of a command related to selection of the AP apparatus 30 from auser by displaying a message of request of selecting the AP apparatus30. As needed, a user may arbitrarily select the AP apparatus 30regardless of selection ranking of the AP apparatus.

The purpose of selecting the AP apparatus 30 through the first terminaldevice 10 is that the home appliance 40 and 40 a is connected tocommunicate with the AP apparatus 30 so that corresponding homeappliance 40 and 40 a access to the third server device 23 via the APapparatus 30, and the third server device 23 registers the correspondinghome appliance 40 and 40 a to the list of the user account. In otherwords, the terminal device 10 may generate authentication information tobe connected to the AP apparatus 30, and may transmit the authenticationinformation to the home appliance 40 and 40 a, and then the homeappliance 40 and 40 a may be connected to the AP apparatus 30 by usingthe received authentication information. Therefore, user' inconvenience,which is a user connects the home appliance 40 and 40 a to the APapparatus 30 by directly operating the home appliance 40 and 40 a, maybe relieved.

When the AP apparatus 30 is determined, the user may input anauthentication key to the AP apparatus 30 into the authentication keyinput portion a5 of the first terminal device 10 (s 111), and the firstterminal device 10 may transmit the inputted authentication key to theAP apparatus 30 (s 112). The AP apparatus may identify whether theauthentication key is identical to an authentication key stored in theAP apparatus 30 by verifying the received authentication key (s 113).The AP apparatus 30 may identify the authentication key and then maytransmit a result of identification to the first terminal device 10 (s114). When the received authentication key is identical to anauthentication key of the AP apparatus 30, the AP apparatus 30 maytransmit information, which is the received authentication key isidentical to an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30, to the firstterminal device 10. When the received authentication key is differentfrom an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30, the AP apparatus 30may transmit information, which is the received authentication key isdifferent from an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30, to thefirst terminal device 10.

In a state where the terminal device 10 is connected to the AP apparatus30, or the terminal device 10 was connected to the AP apparatus 30 inprevious, information related to an authentication key of thecorresponding AP apparatus 30 may be stored in a memory unit installedin the first terminal device 10 and thus the first terminal device 10may perform a process of determining whether an authentication keyinputted by a user is correct by itself.

When the selected AP apparatus 30 and an authentication key, which is tobe connected to the AP apparatus 30, are inputted into the firstterminal device 10, the first terminal device 10 may generate networksetting information and store the network setting information in thememory unit. The stored network setting information may be transmittedto the home appliance 40 and 40 a so that the corresponding homeappliance 40 and 40 a may be allowed to be connected to the AP apparatus30. In addition, the network setting information may include informationabout a user account registered on the third server device 23.Therefore, the home appliance 40 and 40 a access to the third severdevice 23 via the AP apparatus 30, and an authentication process may beperformed by using registered user account of the network settinginformation so that the corresponding home appliance 40 and 40 a may beregistered on the user account.

A process of determining whether an authentication key to the APapparatus 30 inputted by a user is correct, is important. In a statewhere network setting information is generated by using an incorrectauthentication key and then transmitted to the home appliance 40 and 40a, when the home appliance 40 and 40 a tries to connect to the APapparatus 30 by using the network setting information, the connection tothe AP apparatus 30 may be failed due to the incorrect authenticationkey. When the connection between the home appliance 40 and 40 a and theAP apparatus 30 is failed, it may take a certain period of time that theuser receives feedback information about the failure, and there may beinconvenience, which is a user repeatedly performs a process ofselecting the AP apparatus 30 and inputting an authentication key.However, as mentioned above, since the first terminal device 10generates network setting information only when an authentication key tothe selected AP apparatus 30 is correct, there may be no errors innetwork setting information transmitted to the home appliance 40 and 40a, and thus there may be no possibility of failing when the homeappliance 40 and 40 a is connected to the AP apparatus 30 as far asthere is no problems in the AP apparatus 30.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device while setting a home appliance. When the firstterminal device 10 receives information, which is an authentication keyis identical, a screen related to setting b and c, as illustrated inFIGS. 6 and 7, may be displayed to a user (s 200). For example, thefirst terminal device 10 may display a variety of information b1 toexplain methods, such as a method of connecting the home appliance 40and 40 a to the AP apparatus 30, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Informationrelated to a network setting method may be displayed by using at leastone of text, image, sound, and video. A user may set the home appliance40 and 40 a to be a state where the home appliance 40 and 40 a iscapable of communicating with the first terminal device 10 or the APapparatus 30, with reference to what displayed on a screen b of thefirst terminal device 10. For example, the user may set the firstterminal device 10 and the AP apparatus 30 to be a communicable state byoperating setting devices, such as a button, a touch screen, and a knobprovided on the home appliance 40 and 40 a.

When the first terminal device 10 is a device provide with a touchscreen, the first terminal device 10 may further display a next contentdisplay button b2 configured to provide additional information to auser.

As needed, the first terminal device 10 may display text information c1about a method of connecting the home appliance 40 and 40 a to the APapparatus 30, as illustrated in FIG. 7. For example, when a display unitof the home appliance 40 and 40 a is realized by a touch screen, thetext information c1 may include information about that networkconnection setting of the home appliance 40 and 40 a may be performedwhen a certain portion c2 of the touch screen is touched. The firstterminal device 10 may display an example of a screen c3 displayed onthe display unit of the home appliance 40 and 40 a as well as the textinformation c1 so that convenience for user understanding may beachieved.

Meanwhile, when receiving information that an authentication key is notcorrect, the terminal device 10 may output an error message and arequest message of inputting an authentication key again.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process of displaying a method ofsetting home appliance on an external terminal device in accordance withanother embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 8,a network connection method of home appliance may further include s 120and s 121 for selecting at least one home appliance 40 as a homeappliance subject to be access to the AP appliance 30 among theplurality of home appliance 40 and 40 a, which are intended to be anetwork connection. As the same as illustrated in FIG. 2, when anapplication is operated in the first terminal device 10 (s 101), theuser authentication information may be transmitted to the third serverdevice 23 (s 102), and the third server device 23 may transmit the firstaccess token to the first terminal device 10. The first terminal device10 may transmit the first access token to the second server device 22 sothat network connection of the home appliance 40 and 40 a may be set (s104 to s 108).

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device while setting home appliance. As mentionedabove, when the first terminal device 10 obtains an authority of settingup network connection of home appliance, the first terminal device 10may display an appliance selection screen e configured to select anappliance, as illustrated in FIG. 9, by using an application installedin the first terminal device 10 (s 120). Selection tools, such as anicon, configured to select at least one home appliance among theplurality of home appliances as a home appliance subject to access tothe AP appliance, may be displayed on the appliance selection screen eof the first terminal device 10. When a display unit of the firstterminal device 10 is realized by a touch screen, the selection toolsmay include a plurality of buttons e1 to e3 operated by a touch. Theplurality of buttons e1 to e3 may be realized by an image having a shapeof an external appearance of the home appliance so that a user mayintuitionally select a home appliance, which is subject to setting upnetwork connection. The first terminal device 10 may display theplurality of buttons e1 to e3 corresponding to a plurality of homeappliances based on pre-stored information related to the plurality ofhome appliances. The pre-stored information related to the plurality ofhome appliances may be previously stored in the application by a systemdesigner, or may be transmitted from a corresponding home appliance, maybe transmitted from a separated server device, or may be directlyinputted from a user. In order that a user selects home applianceshaving high possibility of being registered to the first terminal device10, such as a refrigerator, a washing machine, an air conditioner, arobot cleaner, an oven, or a TV, the appliance selection screen e mayinclude selection buttons e1 to e3 corresponding to the home appliances.The appliance selection screen e of FIG. 9 illustrates an example ofdisplaying selection buttons e1 to e3 corresponding to the plurality ofhome appliances, but when the first terminal device 100 storesinformation related to a single home appliance, the appliance selectionscreen e of FIG. 9 may illustrate a selection button corresponding to asingle home appliance.

The user may select the home appliance 40 and 40 a corresponding toselected selection tools e1 to e3 among the plurality of home appliancesby touch operating at least one of the plurality of selection buttons e1to e3 (s 121). When the home appliance 40 and 40 a is selected, the APapparatus 30 to which the home appliance 40 and 40 a is connected may beselected (s 122). The AP apparatus 30 may be automatically selected bythe first terminal device 10 or may manually be selected by a user. Whenthe AP apparatus 30 is selected, the user may input an authenticationkey to the AP apparatus 30 to the AP apparatus 30 (s 123). The selectionand determination of the AP apparatus 30 (s 122) and the input ofauthentication key (s 123) may be the same as the selection of the APapparatus 30 (s 110) and the input of authentication key (s 111) of FIG.2. The first terminal device 10 may transmit an authentication key tothe AP apparatus 30 to the AP apparatus 30 (s 112). The AP apparatus 30may verify the authentication key (s 113) and may transmit a result ofverification to the first terminal device (s 114). When receiving theresult of verification that is the authentication key is correct, thefirst terminal device 10 may display a screen related to setting, asillustrated in FIG. 6 or 7, (s 200). From the transmission of theauthentication key to the first terminal device 10 to the displaying ofthe screen related to setting (s 112 to s 200) may be the same as thedescription of FIG. 2.

Hereinafter a case where a user selects at least one home applianceimage among home appliance images e1 to e3 to register a correspondinghome appliance to the first terminal device 10 will be described indetail as an example. For example, when the user selects a homeappliance image, such as an air conditioner image e2, among the homeappliance images e1 to e3 displayed on a screen of the first terminaldevice 10, according to an operation procedure programmed on anapplication installed in the first terminal device 10, a manual for airconditioner operation may be displayed on a screen of the first terminaldevice 10 so that an air conditioner may perform a network communicationwith the first terminal device 10.

The home appliance 40, such as an air conditioner, may use a wirelesscommunication, such as, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth™, near fieldcommunication (NFC) to perform network communication with the firstterminal device 10, but the home appliance 40 is not always prepared forthe network communication and thus operation methods to prepare thenetwork communication may be different from each other according to eachappliance. For convenience, a state where a home appliance is ready toperform a network communication with an external device may be referredto as ‘AP mode’. For the network communication between the homeappliance and the first terminal device 10, the home appliance 40, whichis intended to perform a network communication with the first terminaldevice 10, is in the AP mode and the first terminal device 10 alsooperates a wireless communication module, such as Wi-Fi direct.Therefore, in the displaying of the home appliance selection screen (s130), when a user selects an air conditioner image e2, a manual, whichis for a user to inform how to operate an air conditioner to convertinto a AP mode, as illustrated in FIG. 6, may be displayed.

When the user operates the air conditioner as the manual displayed onthe first terminal device 10, the air conditioner may be converted intothe AP mode. In addition, when the user selects a command input unit b2configured to proceed with a following step to register a homeappliance, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the first terminal device 10 maystart to search a home appliance in an AP mode in the surroundings byoperating a wireless communication module, such as Wi-Fi direct. Whenthe user selects an air conditioner searched by the first terminaldevice 10, a pairing between the first terminal device 10 and the airconditioner may be performed to perform the network communication witheach other.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a process of registering a homeappliance, which is to communicate with a first terminal device, at thefirst terminal device in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Referring to FIG. 10, a network connection method of homeappliance may include an appliance registration process. Particularly,the network connection method of home appliance may further include s130 and s 131 for storing information related to at least one homeappliance capable of setting a network connection to the first terminaldevice 10, as a home appliance to access to the AP apparatus 30. Fromstarting application operation to transmitting a result of determination(s 101 to s 108) may be the same as the description as illustrated inFIGS. 2 and 8. As illustrated in FIG. 10, when the first terminal device10 obtains an authority of setting up network of home appliance, thefirst terminal device 10 may display a home appliance selection screene, as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 (s 130). The home applianceselection screen e may include an addition tool configured to add a homeappliance. When a display unit of the first terminal device 10 isrealized by a touch screen, the home appliance addition tool may includean addition button e4 operated by a touch. The addition button e4 may berealized by an image, such as plus symbol (+), so that a user mayintuitionally select a home appliance, which is subject to networkconnection setting. The user may select an image of a home appliance tobe registered among images displayed on the home appliance selectionscreen e of the first terminal device 10. When an image of a homeappliance to be registered is absent among images displayed on the homeappliance selection screen e, a command of adding an appliance may beinputted by operating the addition button e4 (s 131).

The communication module of the home appliance 40 may be driven tocommunicate with the first terminal device 10, and the home appliance 40and the first terminal device 10 may perform a communication with eachother by using each communication module (s 134). In this case, the homeappliance 40 and the first terminal device 10 may perform acommunication with each other by using WiFi direct. When the homeappliance 40 and the first terminal device 10 are connected to eachother, the home appliance may transmit a device registration request tothe first terminal device 10. In this case, the home appliance 40 maytransmit information related to home appliance to the first terminaldevice 10 (s 134). The information related to home appliance may includeidentification number to identify the home appliance. The identificationnumber may include at least one of serial number of the home appliance40, internet protocol (IP) address of the home appliance 40, mac addressof the home appliance. When receiving the information related to thehome appliance 40, the first terminal device 10 may register the homeappliance 40 by storing the received information. The first terminaldevice 10 may display the registered home appliance 40 as the selectionbutton e1 to e3 on the device selection screen e, as illustrated in FIG.9. As needed, the first terminal device 10 may transmit informationrelated to determination of device registration and registration to thehome appliance 40. The home appliance 40 may receive the informationrelated to determination of registration and registration, and store theinformation related to determination of registration and registration.When the first terminal device 10 tries to control the home appliance 40from the outside, the home appliance 40 may determine whether to acceptthe control of the first terminal device 10 based on the receivedinformation related to determination of registration and registration.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a process of connecting a homeappliance to an AP apparatus. As described with reference to FIGS. 2 to10, when the first terminal device 10 displays a screen related tosetting (s 200), the home appliance 40 may display a setting screen forsetting up a network (s 201), and an access point (AP) connection modeconfigured to allow the home appliance 40 to be connected to the APapparatus may be started (s 202). According to one embodiment, the homeappliance 40 may receive an input of an instruction of starting the APconnection mode from a user via an input unit, such as a mechanicalbutton, a touch screen, and the likes. In addition, the home appliance40 may receive an input of the instruction of starting the AP connectionmode from a user by a remote controller by using NFC or infrared rays.For example, a user may operate a mechanical button, a touch screen ofthe home appliance 40, or a remote controller of the home appliance 40so that the home appliance 40 may enter the AP connection mode. When theAP connection mode is started, the home appliance 40 may display acertain setting screen. According to another embodiment, the homeappliance 40 may enter the AP connection mode according to a controlcommand transmitted from the first terminal device 10.

When the home appliance 40 starts the AP connection mode, the homeappliance 40 and the first terminal device 10 may try to connect to eachother via a wired/wireless communication network (s 204 and s 203). Herethe wireless communication network may be a communication network byusing Wi-Fi direct. When the home appliance 40 and the first terminaldevice 10 are connected each other via a wired/wireless communicationnetwork (s 205), the first terminal device 10 may transmit anidentification number and an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30to the home appliance 40 (s 210). The identification number of the APapparatus 30 may be previously stored in the first terminal device 10.The authentication key of the AP apparatus 30 may be inputted by a user(s 111 of FIG. 2), and may be correct due to verified independently bythe first terminal device 10 (s 113 of FIG. 2). According toembodiments, the first terminal device 10 may transmit a uniqueidentification number. For example, the unique identification number maybe a temporary identification number to be used at a time when the homeappliance 40 is connected to the AP apparatus 30. Informationtransmitted from the first terminal device 10 to the home appliance 40may be transmitted after being encrypted. The home appliance 40 may tryto connect to the AP apparatus 30 by using the received theidentification number and authentication key of the AP apparatus 30 (s211). For example, the home appliance 40 may try to connect to the APapparatus 30 by using a wireless communication system, such as Wi-Fi, orNFC. The home appliance 40 may temporarily or non-temporarily store thereceived the identification number and authentication key of the APapparatus 30 in a storage device built in the home appliance 40. Thestorage device may include a disk storage device and a semiconductormemory device.

As the home appliance 40 transmits the identification number and theverified authentication key of the AP apparatus 30 to the AP apparatus30, the home appliance 40 may be successfully connected to the APapparatus 30 without failure. The AP apparatus 30 may transmitinformation related to successful connection to the home appliance 40 (s212). When the connection with the AP apparatus 30 succeeds, the homeappliance 40 may transmit information about the home appliance 40 to thethird server device 23 via the AP apparatus 30 (s 220). The reason ofwhich the home appliance 40 is successfully connected to the APapparatus 30 at the same time while accessing to the third server device23 is that it is already programmed in micro controlling unit (MCU)built-in the home appliance 40. In other words, it means that when thehome appliance 40 succeeds in initial connection to internet network,Internet Protocol address to be connected has already been programmed inthe MCU of the home appliance 40. Therefore, when the home appliance 40is connected to the AP apparatus 30, the home appliance 40 may determineto be connected to Internet network, and may access to the third serverdevice by using pre-determined IP address.

The third server device 23 may receive information about the homeappliance 40 and may register the received information about the homeappliance 40 to a user account as a home appliance (s 220 a). The useraccount may be previously stored in the third server device 23. The useraccount pre-stored in the third server device 23 may be related to thefirst terminal device 10 and the second terminal device 11. For example,the user account pre-stored in the third server device 23 may beassigned to each serial number of the first terminal device 10. The useraccount may be generated when a user accesses to the third server device23. As mentioned above, the first terminal device 10 may receive thefirst access token by accessing to the third server device 23 (s 103).When the first terminal device 10 transmits an identification number andan authentication key of the AP apparatus 30 to the home appliance 40 (s210), because of transmitting the first access token to the homeappliance 40, the home appliance 40 may automatically access to a useraccount registered in the third server device 23 by using the receivedfirst access token, and the third server device 23 may register the homeappliance 40 at a user account of the first terminal device 10.According to embodiments, the first terminal device 10 may store useduser authentication information by accessing to the third server device23 and when the first terminal device 10 transmits an identificationnumber and an authentication key of the AP apparatus 30 to the homeappliance 40 (s 210), the user authentication information may betransmitted at the same time, and thus the home appliance 40 mayautomatically access to a user account registered to the third serverdevice 23 by using the received user authentication information. At thistime, the user authentication information may include at least one of auser identification number (ID) and password for authentication.

As mentioned above, when the home appliance 40 is registered to the useraccount of the third server device 23, the third server device 23 maytransmit information that is the home appliance 40 is registered to theuser account, to the first terminal device 10. The first terminal device10 may output an indication of completion of registering home applianceon a screen as illustrated in FIG. 12.

In addition, the third server device 23 may transmit a result ofregistration of the home appliance 40 to the home appliance 40 (s 221).The home appliance 40 may receive the result of registration, and maytransmit a request signal requesting the second access token to thethird server device 23 in response to the received result ofregistration. In response to the request signal of the home appliance40, the third server device 23 may transmit the second access tokenrelated to an access authority of network connection of the homeappliance 40 to the home appliance 40 (s 223). According to embodiments,other server devices 21 and 22 other than the third server device 23 mayreceive a request signal of the second access token and may transmit thesecond access token to the home appliance 40. In addition, receiving arequest signal of the second access token and transmitting the secondaccess token may be performed by another device, which is not shown indrawings. A variety of data transmitted from the home appliance 40 tothe third server device 23, and a variety of data transmitted from thethird server device 23 to the home appliance 40 may be transmitted afterencrypted. Depending on reception of the second access token, the homeappliance 40 may be connected to an external network via the APapparatus 30. FIG. 12 is a view illustrating an exemplary screendisplayed on a terminal device while setting home appliance. Accordingto an embodiment, when the home appliance 40 is connected to theexternal network, the home appliance 40 may transmit information relatedto successful connection to an external network to the first terminaldevice 10. The first terminal device 10 may display a screen d relatedto completion of connection, as illustrated in FIG. 2, on a display unitin response to reception of information related to successful connectionto the external network. The screen d related to completion ofconnection may include a message dl of completed connection.

According to an embodiment, the first terminal device 10 may transmit arequest signal of performing test to perform test to the home appliance40 (s 230). In response to reception of the request signal of performingtest, the home appliance may perform network connection test for atleast one of the presence of network connection, reliability of networkconnection, a network speed (s 231). The result of determination of testmay be transmitted to the first terminal device 10 (s 232).

As mentioned above, when the home appliance 40 accesses to the APapparatus 30 or the network connection test is completed, the homeappliance 40 may perform a communication by accessing to the externalnetwork via the AP apparatus 30 (s 240). In this case, the homeappliance 40 may access to the external network according to the secondaccess token.

Hereinafter a setting method of network connection of home appliance byusing a second terminal device different from the first terminal will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a network connection method of homeappliance by using a second terminal device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 13, anetwork connection of home appliance may be set up by using the secondterminal device 11 different from the first terminal 10. In this case,according to an embodiment, the home appliance 40 may be connected tothe AP apparatus 30 (s 320). The home appliance 40 may obtain an accessauthority of the AP apparatus 30 by using an authentication key and anidentification number of the AP apparatus 30 received from at least oneof the first terminal device 10 and the second terminal device 11, andthen the home appliance 40 may be connected to the AP apparatus 30 byusing the obtained access authority. For setting up a network connectionof home appliance by using the second terminal device 11, an applicationmay be executed in the second terminal device 11 (s 300). Theapplication may be received from the first server device 21 and may beinstalled. When the application is executed, the second terminal device11 may receive an input of authentication information to authenticate auser and may transmit the received user authentication information tothe third server device 23 (s 301). The user authentication informationmay include at least one of user identification number and password forauthentication. The user authentication information may be the same asor different from authentication information transmitted from the firstterminal device 10 at the above-mentioned as s 102. The second terminaldevice 11 may receive an input of user identification number andpassword for authentication from a user. In this case, the secondterminal device 11 may display an input window to receive an input ofthe user identification number and password for authentication on adisplay unit. The second terminal device 11 may previously store theuser identification number and password for authentication. The userauthentication information may be encrypted for security beforetransmitted to the third server device 23. After the third server device23 receives authentication information and performs user authenticationbased on the received authentication information, the first access tokenrelated to an authority of setting network of the home appliance 40 maybe transmitted to the second terminal device 11 when the userauthentication succeeds (s 302).

When receiving the first access token, the second terminal device 11 mayrequest of transmitting of user information to the second server 22 (s303). The user information may include a variety of information and anauthority which is needed for network connection setting of the homeappliance 40. According to embodiments the second terminal device 11 mayrequest an authority to access the home appliance 40 by transmitting thefirst access token to the second server device 22. The second serverdevice 22 may receive a request signal of user information transmissionand may transmit the user information to the second terminal device 11in response to the request signal of user information transmission (s304). When receiving the user information, the second terminal device 11may display a screen related to setting on a display unit of the secondterminal device 11 (s 310). As illustrated in FIG. 13, the secondterminal device 11 may not receive an authentication key to a separatedAP apparatus 30. Therefore, a user may easily connect the home appliance40 to a network without inputting an additional authentication key afterauthenticating by using a temporary authentication key.

After a screen related to setting is displayed (s 310), the secondterminal device 11 may transmit a request signal of transmitting thesecond access token to the third server device 23 (s 311). According toembodiments, the second terminal device 11 may request the second accesstoken to other servers 21 and 22 other than the third server device 23.The third server device 23 may receive the request signal oftransmitting the second access token, and then in response to therequest signal of transmitting the second access token, the third serverdevice 23 may transmit the second access token to the home appliance 40(s 312). In this case, the second access token may be transmitted to thehome appliance 40 via the AP apparatus 30. The home appliance 40 mayreceive the second access token and may be connected to an externalnetwork according to the received second access token. The homeappliance 40 may access to the AP apparatus 30, and may be connected tothe external network via accessed the AP apparatus 30.

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating an exemplary screen displayed on anexternal terminal device during a process of setting a networkconnection of home appliance by using a second terminal device. When thesecond terminal device 11 performs a communication with the secondserver device 22 (s 303 and s 304) or sets network connection of thehome appliance 40, the second terminal device 11 may display anauthentication screen f, as illustrated in FIG. 14. An authenticationscreen f may be a screen related to setting displayed on a display unitof the second terminal device 11. The authentication screen f mayinclude a display window f1 displaying a description of the user actionrequired for the authorization. The display window f1 may include an OKbutton f2 and a cancel button f3 to receive an input of an instructionof a user about whether to proceed or to cancel the next step.

Hereinafter a method of network connection of the plurality of homeappliances will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 to 19. FIG. 15is a flow chart illustrating a process of setting a network connectionof a plurality of home appliances in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure and FIGS. 16 to 19 are views illustrating anexemplary screen displayed on an external terminal device during aprocess of setting a network connection of a plurality of homeappliances. As illustrated in FIG. 15, according to a network connectionmethod of the plurality of home appliances, at first, the first terminaldevice 10 may display a group data generation screen g, as illustratedin FIG. 16. The group data generation screen g is a screen displayed toa user in order to generate at least one group data by grouping theplurality of home appliances. The group data generation screen g mayinclude selection tools g1 to g5 indicating the plurality of homeappliances (s 400). In addition, the group data generation screen g mayinclude an addition tool g4 to add a new home appliance, a group datageneration tool g5 for grouping of home appliances, and a collectivecall tool g6 to call generated group data. The selection tool g1 to g3,the addition tool g4, the group data generation tool g5, and thecollective call tool g6 may be realized by an image so that a userintuitionally recognizes the function thereof. When the first terminaldevice 10 displays a group data generation screen g on a touch screen, auser may start to generate group data by touch operating the group datageneration tool g5 to generate group data. The first terminal device 10may display a device selection screen gg, as illustrated in FIG. 17, inresponse to the touch operation. When the device selection screen gg isdisplayed, a user may select at least one home appliance among theplurality of home appliances by touch operating at least one of theplurality of selection tools g1 to g3 displayed on the device selectionscreen gg (s 410). In this case, distinctive marks g21 and g31 mayfurther be displayed on home appliances g2 and g3 so that the homeappliances g2 and g3 selected by a user and other home appliance g1non-selected by a user are distinguished from each other. For example,as illustrated in FIG. 17, marks g21 and g31, such as a dotted line, maybe displayed around the home appliances g2 and g3. According toembodiments, animation effects, such as that the home appliances g2 andg3 are flashed, or the color of the home appliance g2 and g3 arechanged, may be further displayed to distinguish the home appliance g2and g3 selected by a user from the other home appliance g1 non-selectedby a user. As mentioned above, when at least one home appliance g2 andg3 are selected, the first terminal device 10 may group at least oneselected home appliance (s 420), and may generate group data includingthe at least one selected home appliance (s 430). When the group data isgenerated, the first terminal device 10 may further display a group dataselection tool g7 corresponding to the generated group data on the groupdata generation screen g, as illustrated in FIG. 18. The group dataselection tool g7 may be displayed by a certain image. The group dataselection tool g7 may be displayed by a folder image to indicate a groupof the plurality of home appliances.

When a user set up a network connection of the home appliances 40 and 40a, the user may select at least one home appliances 40 and 40 a bytouching the group data selection tool g7 including at least one homeappliance or the collective call tool g6, and then may perform networkconnection setting of the at least one home appliance 40 and 40 a at thesame time. In this case, the user may select group data and then mayselect all or some of home appliance in the group data (s 400). When auser touches the group data selection tool g7 and the collective calltool g6, the first terminal device 10 may display a group selectionwindow g8 in which an image indicating at least one home appliance g8and g9 is displayed, as illustrated in FIG. 19. A user may select someof home appliance g9 or all of home appliance g9 and g10 to select allof home appliance or some of home appliance in the group data. Asmentioned above, the selected home appliance 40 and 40 a may beconnected to the AP apparatus 30 (s 450) and may be connected to anexternal network (s 460).

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A network connection method of a homeappliance comprising: receiving, by a terminal device connected to anaccess point (AP) apparatus, an input of an authentication key of the APapparatus from a user; verifying, by the terminal device, the inputtedauthentication key based on an authentication key of the AP apparatusstored in the terminal device; setting the home appliance to be in astate of communicating with the terminal device; connecting the homeappliance and the terminal device; transmitting, by the terminal device,an identification number and the verified authentication key of the APapparatus to the home appliance when the inputted authentication key isverified to be identical to the authentication key of the AP apparatusstored in the terminal device; and connecting the home appliance to theAP apparatus based on the identification number and the authenticationkey of the AP apparatus.
 2. The network connection method of the homeappliance of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, by the terminaldevice, an operation method of setting the home appliance to be in astate of communicating with the terminal device.
 3. The networkconnection method of the home appliance of claim 1, further comprising:searching, by the terminal device, a home appliance, which is set to bein a state of communicating with the terminal device.
 4. The networkconnection method of the home appliance of claim 1, wherein the homeappliance and the terminal device communicate with each other usingWi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) direct.
 5. The network connection method ofthe home appliance of claim 1, further comprising: connecting the APapparatus to the terminal device.
 6. The network connection method ofthe home appliance of claim 1, further comprising: accessing, by thehome appliance, a server device via the AP apparatus after the homeappliance is connected to the AP apparatus.
 7. The network connectionmethod of the home appliance of claim 6, further comprising:registering, by the server device, the home appliance to a user accountrelated to the terminal device when the home appliance accesses theserver device.
 8. The network connection method of the home appliance ofclaim 1, wherein the verifying the inputted authentication key comprisesverifying, by the terminal device, the authentication key by determiningwhether the authentication key is identical to the authentication key ofthe AP apparatus stored in the terminal device.
 9. The networkconnection method of the home appliance of claim 8, wherein the terminaldevice repeatedly receives the authentication key as an input to theterminal device to verify the authentication key until theauthentication key is authenticated.
 10. The network connection methodof the home appliance of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, bythe terminal device or the home appliance, a user authenticationinformation to a server device so that the server device performs a userauthentication based on the user authentication information.
 11. Thenetwork connection method of the home appliance of claim 1, wherein theterminal device comprises at least one of a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a tablet PC, a Smart TV, adigital cameras, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a remotecontroller, and a portable gaming device.
 12. The network connectionmethod of the home appliance claim 1, wherein the home appliancecomprises at least one of a refrigerator, a washing machine, atelevision, a radio, an audio, a cleaner, an air conditioner, a homecomputer, an oven, a Smart TV, a digital camera, or a laptop.
 13. A homeappliance comprising: a communication unit configured to: connect to aterminal device by being set to be in a state of communicating with theterminal device, and receive an identification number and a verifiedauthentication key of an access point (AP) apparatus, wherein theverified authentication key of the AP apparatus is transmitted to thecommunication unit from the terminal device, only when theauthentication key is verified by the terminal device to be identical toan authentication key of the AP apparatus stored in the terminal device;and a processor configured to: connect to the AP apparatus based on theidentification number and the authentication key of the AP apparatus,and control the communication unit to connect to a server device via theAP apparatus by using stored Internet Protocol (IP) address whenconnected to the AP apparatus.
 14. A network connection system of a homeappliance comprising: an access point (AP) apparatus configured toconnect to an external network; a terminal device connected to the APapparatus and configured to receive an input of an authentication key ofthe AP apparatus from a user and verify the inputted authentication keybased on an authentication key of the AP apparatus stored in theterminal device; and the home appliance configured to: connect to theterminal device by being set to be in a state of communicating with theterminal device, receive an identification number and the verifiedauthentication key of the AP apparatus, and connect to the AP apparatusbased on the identification number and the authentication key, whereinthe terminal device is further configured to transmit the inputtedauthentication key of the AP apparatus to the home appliance, only whenthe inputted authentication key is verified to be identical to theauthentication key of the AP apparatus stored in the terminal device.15. The network connection system of the home appliance of claim 14,wherein the terminal device is further configured to display anoperation method of setting the home appliance to be in a state ofcommunicating with the terminal device.
 16. The network connectionsystem of the home appliance of claim 14, wherein the terminal device isfurther configured to search a home appliance, which is set to be in astate of communicating with the terminal device.
 17. The networkconnection system of the home appliance of claim 14, further comprising:a server device to which the home appliance is accessed via the APapparatus after connected to the AP apparatus.
 18. The networkconnection system of the home appliance of claim 17, wherein the serverdevice is configured to register the home appliance to a user accountrelated to the terminal device when the home appliance accesses theserver device.
 19. The network connection system of the home applianceof claim 17, wherein: the terminal device or the home appliance isfurther configured to transmit user authentication information to theserver device, and the server device is further configured to perform auser authentication based on the user authentication information. 20.The network connection system of the home appliance of claim 14, whereinthe terminal device is further configured to verify the authenticationkey by determining whether the authentication key is identical to theauthentication key of the AP apparatus stored in the terminal device,wherein the terminal device is further configured to repeatedly receivean authentication key as an input to the terminal device to verify theinputted authentication key until the authentication key isauthenticated.